- Priest River
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city, Bonner county, northwestern Idaho, U.S., at the junction of the Priest and Pend Oreille rivers. It is a gateway to a spectacular aquatic and forested mountain domain focusing on Priest Lake and Upper Priest Lake (north) and the Kaniksu and Coeur d'Alene national forests in the Idaho panhandle. Originally the territory of Kalispel Indians, the area was explored in the 1840s by a Jesuit priest, Pierre-Jean de Smet (Smet, Pierre-Jean de), and both the river and lake were named Priest in reference to him; the town of De Smet on the Coeur d'Alene Indian Reservation to the south was also named in his honour. The village of Priest River was first settled in 1889 and developed after the railroad reached it in 1891. Priest Lake, with a 63-mile (101-km) shoreline and several recreational islands, is known for its giant-size trout (Mackinaw and Dolly Varden). Among the area's scenic attractions are the Indian Rock pictographs and the Roosevelt Grove of Ancient Cedars, with 800-year-old trees, some more than 150 feet (46 metres) high. Pop. (1990) 1,560; (2000) 1,754.
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Universalium. 2010.
